Someone tell me,
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Are Western Values Chinese Values?
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Are Islamic Values Western Values?
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When you understand the answer to these questions then you will understand why the wars in the middle east are inevitable, conflict with China certain, or possibly, just possibly how these can all be avoided.

知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆
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"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be fear a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

Ok I have some genuine questions to the Chinese and those who know China well. Considering all the progress being made, the literacy levels and the per capita GDP, what are the factors that make China avoid democracy so desperately? Wouldn’t it actually help the country become stronger by kicking out inept leaders like Bo Xilai? Wouldn’t it help Taiwan and China come closer? Wouldn’t it free North Korea and create a better, unified Korea? Wouldn’t it benefit people in Xinjiang and Tibet by making them a part of the process? Wouldn’t it make the neighbors like Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India friendlier? Wouldn’t it improve the trade in the East, South and South East Asia? May be the large economies in Asia can form an Asian Union? Wouldn’t it improve trade with the west? Wouldn’t it create a harmonious society which the Chinese and the rest of Asians really want?

Your assumption is that democracy(liberal western direct style) actually works is flawed.
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China is a Republic, a system the Founding fathers in the US wanted. Or a representative democracy/indirect democracy.
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The contrast with direct democracy in the US, where leaders are not chosen on their ability and skill in running a country, but their populism and herd/mob mentatlity
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"We will never simply copy the system of Western countries"

It must be interesting for Mr Ai, living out a Lu Xun story in real life.

The man is not even really a dissident. He just tries to tell the truth about the real situation. Sometimes his modes of expression can be criticized from this or that angle, but really, he's Chinese, he's not a foreign asset, and he wants to help his people.

More Kafka than Orwell, I think. With a bit of Voltaire for the zing. Ai Weiwei is lucky he lives now; 50 years ago he'd have surely been shot. Is this progress? In a sad way, I guess so. No one has murdered him or his family for his politics, which could have been done a generation ago, but that's not much of an improvement now, really, is it? When we start comparing BAD to REALLY BAD, then we approach Godwin's Law, and everyone starts talking about Germans and the discussion becomes rubbish.

What's missing in this article is an analysis based in Chinese culture that explains the true nature of Ai's slap to the face of the government. He made them lose face by saying 'Hey, world, here's me hanging out at my house; this is what the government uses your tax ricemarks to pay for, what do you think of that?'

It must always be considered in dealings with Chinese people that reputation, for most Chinese, is not earned, but given. Other people give you face, other people can take it away. It is not the same as our western concepts of honor or respect. It's different. So Weiwei just cost his gaolers a lot of face, and we'll see how they pay him back for that.

The funny thing is that Weiwei is clever. If he gets smacked now, everyone will know that it's because he dared to embarass his 'hosts' by offering up true video footage of his own volition. If nothing happens to him, people will start asking why he can't show what the government is recording him doing to the people. Either way, he looks cool and the cops look like thugs. Ai wins.

In addition, the resemblance between Orwell, Kafka and Ai is striking. They are all to some extent completely alienated from their respective societies; such alienation even led to Kafka's premature end.

In addition, the resemblance between Orwell, Kafka and Ai is striking. They are all to some extent completely alienated from their respective societies; such alienation even led to Kafka's premature end.

Oh. It's pretty bad alright. But you forgot another person from your fictional and nonfictional list, Qian Xuesen. He was under house arrest in the US for 5 years before being deported to China to start their missile program. Pretty amazing what paranoid officials will do everywhere.

Great minds think alike .Those countries which claim to be a nation full of freedom and democracy disgust me extremely. How can these bastard--especially UK and America--have the authority to accuse China of the lack of human rights while abusing prisoner of war.What a ironical joke it is.

Actually Ai Weiwei, like Liu Xiabo, is a character created by the western countries like a novelist creates a character for his book with a view to destabilise the Chinese society. Much money has been spent by the western countries to create this character and he is known by many people in the western countries. However, few Chinese in China have heard of him and even less think that he is worthy of any attention. It is most unlikely that he will be able to deliver the kind of goods which his western sponsors are expecting him to deliver, that is, to destabilise China. In the end, he will be like a dream for the western people to wow at when they will wake up.

You are comfortable in peddling the same old story all the time. The fact is Ai Weiwei and Liu Xiabo have done less to create instability then the likes of Bo Xilai. How many demonstrations have Liu and Ai orchestrated. None. How many people did Ai Wei Wei and Liu Xiabo have murdered

Instability in China will not come from external powers, but from the system itself. The sooner you realize that the better. Unfortunately, you are to immature and naive to understand.

Well at least its better than worship someone soon to charged for corruption, abuse of power and possibly murder. I don't what could be worse.

As you righrly point out, neither Liu Xiabo nor Ai Weiwei has been able to do anything that their western sponsors and supporters expect from them and have paid them for. It is therefore time for these western countries who are funding them to cut off their stipends, which actually belong to the poor tax payers. Unfortunately, the western governments will be faced with strong lobbies of the agencies acting as intermediaries between these governments and the two criminals. Indeed, for each dollar received by Ai Weiwei or Liu Xiabo, the agency gets 50 dollars. No wonder some of the key personnel of these agencies are multi-millionnaires.

Really, I am sure they are paupers compared to your beloved Bo Xilai. Maybe they should fund Bo Xilai activities instead, far more productive and destabilizing for China. You are like a windup toy, that does not know its time to stop banging your silly little drum.

Its nice to know some of the 10 year old Red Pioneers are up to their usual little tirades. They really get a kick out of picking on the smelly Fat Boy. I guess they did not get enough of it at school, most of them being the brown nosing Class Leader that they are.

I guess some of them had to earn their brownie points this week, since Bo Xilai is a sensitive topic for them, or some of them are actual Bo Xilai supporters. So the Economist editors must have thought, "We need stir up some trouble, last week we did two articles about China's Rise, so lets go visit Fattie."

To be frank, most of the foreign journalist would trade their left testicle to get a interview with Bo Xilai or Gu Kailai, but they got the consolation prize -- Ai Weiwei. What Ai Weiwei has been accused of "tax evasion" is an after thought, compared to murder. I am sure Bo Xilai would trade all his embezzled wealth to be in Ai Weiwei's place right now. Well for the Chinese police, Bo Xilai and Ai Weiwei do share something in common, both definitely have not been paying their taxes, and both of them are definitely not being detained for "not paying their taxes".

Our ten year old Chinese posters are upset at Ai Weiwei because he wears his love of the West on big fat ass of his. Good for him, at least he is honest and not a hypocrite.

You compare Ai Weiwei with Bo Xilai like you would compare yourself with the great Bismarck. Just like you are like a small ant to the great Bismarck so is Ai Weiwei to Bo Xilai.
This comparison shows that you are simply a five years old kid.

To be frank I rather be Ai Weiwei right now (and most people here also), at least he knows he most likely won't be offed by the CPC. Yes Ai Weiwei is unpleasant man, compared to Bo Xilai. Bo Xilai, is most likely going to jail and possible get the death penalty. His crimes would most likely include - corruption, tax evasion, interfering in state investigation, murder, subversion of authority.

Secondly, its strange how you say he is a traitor for "accepting" US funds, for acting like a clown? If that was the case, many Chinese would do the same. Wang Lijun give a whole bunch of secrets to the Americans for free. In fact he did far more damage to China's credibility / security than Ai Weiwei every will. Yet up until recently he was hailed as a hero. So yes, most of the pro-Chinese posters and their Western henchmen have no credibility at all in determining who is a traitor to their beloved China.

In 20 years time, a watchingchina clone will be ranting about Sino-Judeo conspiracy, that the Jews are infecting the Chinese elite through ties and blood. Many of the princlings go to Ivy League, 25% of undergraduates at the Ivy League are Jewish, Asians make up 25%. So the rest of the 95% of the US population makes up the rest of the 50%. Look at Mark Zuckerburg. The Jews are so insidious !! Jewish-Chinese spawn will be much more common in the future. Here is another interesting tidbit.

In fact he did far more damage to China's credibility / security than Ai Weiwei every will. Yet up until recently he was hailed as a hero.
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Criminal turned into a witness!! :D
I hope he will be in jail too. :D
Heywood is not innocent !! :D

Don't worry, I was not talking about you. Yes you are ten years old, but you are definitely not a Commie. More likely a KMT / triad member. How much Heroin did you import into Germany today? Do you inject/snort your own merchandise to test it?

However, he has not been talking much about China, lately, because with the Günter Grass article, he is having a field day. Bo Xilai is far more interesting in my opinion, and has much more impact than the other stories about China.

The reason why alot of our posters like to comment about Ai Weiwei, because its reflexive. They have gotten so used to it, it has become second nature. When Ai Weiwei shows up its about

1) His weight
2) His unkept appearance, and his sanitation.
3) His crappy art
4) His immature behaviour.
5) His love of the West.

While talking about Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun make them very uneasy. How can they criticize someone that they worshipped months ago? For all the buffoonish behaviour of Ai Weiwei , he never ran to the US Consulate. Ditto with Liu Xiaobo.

I wasn't talking about you too. Who care about a old man suffering Alzheimer. Check your coffin, I delivered to your coffin, so you should have the best stuff of the world. Enjoy it with GuaGua as long as you have not poisoned by him yet ! :D

Umm no Ai Weiwei is not nearly as important as Bo Xilai; in fact Weiwei is just a dumb artist who has a few tens of thousands of followers/supporters in China and he doesn't pick sides in CPC politics.
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How many slave followers does Bo Xilai have? And Bo surely does pick sides.

To answer my own question, Bo probably has tens, or maybe even hundreds, of millions of dedicated followers. Plus he was a member of the Politburo and has ~8 billion RMB (1.3 billion USD) of personal wealth, which makes him almost as rich as Donald Trump.

So if Bo Xilai is a footlong sandwich then Ai Weiwei is a shred of lettuce on that sandwich.

The guy is under house arrest because he repeatedly tried to piss off the government as much as he could, and not because the government sees him as a threat whatsoever. (It's pretty obvioius if you compare his treatment to the people whom the government did actually consider a threat.)

It is a shame that the western countries and the western media should finance and support some Chinese agents like Liu Xiabo and Ai Weiwei in an attempt to destabilise the Chinese society. It would have been much better if the money they spend on and the support they give to these agents were used to alleviate the pains of the growing number of people who desperately need food in their own countries. Furthermore the activities of these agents who are paid by the western countries have no effect at all on the Chinese society because the Chinese population is not stupid to allow disruption in their country. The western countries are simply throwing their money in the drain.

yawn. why do the Chinese authorities spend so much time and effort controlling and suppressing Liu, Ai and people like them if they are no threat? I guess, as an expert in doublethink, you see no contradiction.

In fact the Chinese Authorities do not spend as much time and effort to control Ai Weiwei as the British authorities to control a vulgar criminal. It is the western media that make the naive western readers believe that Ai Weiwei is a star. The great majority of the Chinese population do not know Ai weiwei. Those who know him consider him as a criminal like any other criminal in China.

When I meet or see someone like Mr. Wei Wei I feel better about China. We need people like him that both Chinese and outsiders could be lived in peace & democracy. Thanks a lot, the Economist, and Mr. Wei Wei - wish you all the best .

This way, Ai Weiwei would be free to do his art and be ignored, because his art sux and the only reason he receives attention is because he's a Chinese dissident, and the world would no longer have to put up with Fatty from Flint, Michigan.

Win-win situation, no?

Also maybe China should take a page out of the USA handbook and establish a Guantanamo-style prison on an island somewhere to house those religious "terrorists" (Dalai Lama) just like America houses their religious "terrorists" in Cuba.

Plus Michael Moore hates capitalism, which means that he will fit into a communist prison very well. (He also contradictorily hates socialism.)

How can he hate the major policies of Bill Clinton AND GWB at the same time? They were about as opposite as you can possibly get.

The guy makes a living just hating on everything, and literally never offers any suggestions of improvement, which makes his hating completely pointless; hence why he belongs in a Chinese prison.......

Weiwei is no harm to anyone, and is much less of an annoyance than Michael Moore, which is why he should be free to do his art and be ignored somewhere in the USA.

It is strange that the western media are so much interested in dissidents, separatists and even terrorists who wish to destabilise China. I do not think that they are motivated by some lofty ideals otherwise they would not allow Guantanamo to exist nor would they allow capital punishment in the US. Their purpose is political and really aims to destabilising the Chinese society. However, Chinese readers are not interested to read such rubbish, though they do have access to them. So long as their articles are fed to the western public only, the Chinese society will not be affected.

"..... western media are so much interested in dissidents, separatists and even terrorists who wish to destabilise China."

They're pawns of their own governments. This way, by frazzling and destabilizing China, they don't have to work as hard as the Chinese to compete for the global share of the pie. It's the classic 'tackle football' strategy that's ingrained in their collective psyche since youth. Expect that to continue till they run out of Rare Earth metals, and then...

The activities of Ai Weiwei are funded by a foreign organisation, hence by a foreign Government because that foreign organisation in turn gets its money from its Government. It is therefore not surprising that the same foreign organisation has induced The Economist to publish this article in order to feed the naive western public.

You should learn a simple thing before posting some like this. It's evidence of the conclusion. Any well-educated knows that this is only believed when coming from an official and believable source, too.

i support the government's reaction,nowadays there are many network mob in China, they doesn't work hard to get what they want but only to envy those people who live better than them.They express their resentment and dissatisfaction via internet.Ai weiwei's behavior provides them with a good opportunity to grumble and undermine the social harmony.

i support the government's reaction,nowadays there are many network mob in China, they doesn't work hard to get what they want but only to envy those people who live better than them.They express their resentment and dissatisfaction via internet.Ai weiwei's behavior provides them with a good opportunity to grumble and undermine the social harmony.

Ha! While I disagree with you that Ai Weiwei is dumb, I find your honesty about being a disenfranchised paid mouthpiece of the Chinese government refreshing. Although I do suppose you're just trying to get ahead like all the rest of us working at crummy jobs. Good luck in your postings! Just keep plugging along and keep hoping eventually things will get better.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

You are a fake 50 center. Your American English idiom
gave you away. I think you either a turned coat former
50 center or a paid CIA sleeper. You are no 50 center. I am the genuine 50 center.
You should know by my poor English.

But Mr Ai said that his interrogations never touched on the issue of taxes. He has never been formally charged, with tax violations or anything else.

“They told the whole world it’s my tax problem, but they told me it’s not a tax problem, so I shouldn’t even argue about this,” he said.

He ran an internet campaign to raise money to pay his alleged taxes owing. It has been reported that he raised close to one million RMB. Either he is not telling the truth in this interview or he has profited handsomely at the expense of a large number of sympathizers.

They didn't formally charge him with tax evasion. That's how it works in authoritarian regimes. It can be anything they want anytime they want, and then change it as they please. Either way, you're screwed.